Forgotten Valentine
by Marie Nomad
Summary: It's Valentine's Day but someone has forgotten and for once, it wasn't Tony. How can Pepper fix this mistake and Tony's broken heart?


This fic is for the its_always_been lj community challenge 03 the Valentine's Day challenge. I don't own any of the characters. This takes place after Iron Man 2. Many thanks to Arcane Legacy and Silverheart09 for the betareading.

Forgotten Valentine

By Marie Nomad

Pepper sighed as she entered the living room and flung off her shoes. It had been a hectic day. One of the factories got attacked by some supervillian, she woke up late and had to rush to work and her favorite drink at the cafe had stopped being made. She paused as she saw a stuffed bear sitting on the couch. It was dressed in a version of the Iron Man armor with a lit up arc reactor. It was nothing like the ones at the store, it looked custom made. She read a note, "You light up my life, Tony."

"Like it?" Tony asked as he walked in.

"It's cute." Pepper shrugged too tired to care.

"Anyway, I got reservations waiting for us at this nice restaurant in LA. Just get ready and we can fly there in style."

"I'm too tired." Pepper dropped the bear onto the sofa.

"What?" Tony's face dropped. "But... why?"

"I had a bad day, okay!" Pepper snapped. "All I want to do is get some sleep and I can't have any with some crazy boyfriend who loves to break into my apartment!"

"But... okay." Tony looked down and slowly made his way to the door. "I... I love you."

"Love you too, good night." Pepper closed the door on him.

The next day...

Pepper yawned as she turned off the alarm. It was incredible what a good night's sleep can do for a woman. It could actually be a wonderful day. She opened up her planner to see that it was the 15th. She didn't have anything serious to do and- She stopped and looked at the date again. Yesterday was Valentine's Day. It dawned on her, the teddy bear, Tony wanting to drag her out to dinner, and that sad look in his eyes when she practically tossed Tony out. "CRAP!"

The redhead quickly got dressed and rushed over to Tony's mansion. All she could hear in her head was how stupid she was. All Tony wanted was a nice romantic night out on their very first Valentine's day as a couple. "I am so stupid!" She sighed as she punched in her code.

"Greetings, Ms. Potts. Mr. Stark wished me to state that there was a supervillian sighting in Utah and so he will be running late." JARVIS said.

"Why didn't he tell me?" Pepper asked.

"He stated that he did not wish to disturb your 'beauty sleep' since you were exhausted yesterday."

Pepper felt worse than before. Whenever Tony feel awful, he would do three things: get really drunk and do something stupid, isolate himself in his workstation and do something stupid, or get into a great big battle and do something stupid. "What have I done?" She walked into the living room and plopped onto the couch.

"From what I can understand, you wished to celebrate this 'Valentine's Day' with Mr. Stark due to the fact that you two are now a couple." JARVIS stated. "From my research, it is often the male who forgets the present."

"I know." Pepper stared up at the ceiling. "I had a bad day at work but that's no excuse. I was just so used to spending Valentine's Day alone. Any ideas on how to make it up to Tony?"

"Based on my research on forgiveness, it is recommended that you find Mr. Stark and apologize profusely."

"I guess." Pepper had to shake her head at the irony. Usually, Tony would have been the one to screw up, and he would have been the one to repair the damage. Now it was her turn. "How long has he been gone?"

"Ten hours."

"Ten hours?" She repeated. Battles shouldn't last this long unless he was having trouble but he had those Avengers to call on. If Tony was really desperate, he would have called her since she had her own suit.

"Yes. He has not used any weapons for the past eight hours so he must be done with the supervillian."

"He hasn't started drinking, has he?"

"No. Mr. Stark has put special safeguards that disable the majority of his armor's capabilities if the alcohol sensors pick up alcohol in his sweat and urine samples."

"He... drunkproofed his armor?" Pepper had to smile at the fact that Tony did this just to avoid hurting people while drinking again.

"Yes."

"I... I have to find him. Tell me where he is."

"Mr. Stark had given me express orders not to tell you anything."

"Oh..."

"However... there are websites that are dedicated to keeping tabs on Mr. Stark and his current activities in the public. I have no control over those."

Pepper beamed as she opened her laptop. "Thanks, Jarvis."

XXX

She decided to use the suit since she needed it in case Tony decide to fly off. It was a nice, although extravagant Christmas present. The suit was fun to fly around in, even if it is a literal pain in the neck. She checked the Iron Man tracking websites.

MarieNomad: Iron Man's still pigging out.

IronMan4Evr: How can he stay so buff?

Cops1845: I want doughnuts.

Troll59: Come to this webcite!

They have not changed which was good. For once, Tony was not drinking his sorrows away, although, she was still worried about him.

Pepper landed next to a doughnut shop and saw Tony in the giant doughnut sign working on eating a bunch of doughnuts. "Tony! Can you come down here?"

"No, I like it up here." Tony said and ate another doughnut.

Pepper called up JARVIS. "JARVIS, can that sign hold my weight?"

"The sign has a 90% chance of collapsing on itself if it holds both your weights with the armor on."

"Damn it." She took off her helmet. "Tony! Please, get down here!"

"Is there a problem?" A police officer asked.

"Nothing to worry about. Is Tony causing any problems?"

"Nah. The owners sees him as free advertisement. Kinda refreshing actually." The officer took a sip of his smoothie.

"Oh. Tony! Please! I'm sorry I forgot about Valentine's Day!"

"You forgot Valentine's Day?" The officer looked dumbfounded.

"Yes, and I was an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Tony said as he put down his heart shaped doughnut and flew down. "I should have reminded you about Valentine's day. It's okay."

"I shouldn't have forgotten about it at all. It's my job to remind you about important dates." Pepper started to cry as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"Everyone makes mistakes."

"So- so y-you're not mad at me?" Pepper wiped her eyes.

"I was, but while I was eating my doughnuts, I realized that you're human and things had been crazy for the past few days. You had forgiven me for all the stuff that I did to you."

"You bribed me with sex and really expensive shoes."

Tony smirked as he grinned slightly. "And what will you bribe me with for my forgiveness?"

"Not here." Pepper looked over at the police officer who was watching the two.

"Oh right. Let's fly." Tony and Pepper put on their helmets and flew off.

"I gotta tell the others." The officer got out his cell phone.

* * *

"You are insane."

"Hey, it's your bribe."

"But... how can you handle so much?"

"It's one of my powers." Tony said as he licked the frosting off of his cupcake. "Oh god, these are some good cupcakes."

"I made them myself." Pepper watched in fascination. "JARVIS, keep an eye on his blood sugar."

"Yes, Ms. Potts. What about the websites?"

"Don't- what do you mean the websites?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, there had been numerous updates in regards to your relationship." JARVIS replied as he brought up the websites on the TV.

MarieNomad: How can she break his heart?

MrsIronMan: I want my own Iron Man.

Troll76: See me nude.

"Wow, word spreads fast." Tony commented as he ate his cupcake.

"I will never forget Valentine's Day again." Pepper vowed.

And she never did after that day.

The End...


End file.
